This invention relates to a menu selection input device and, in particular, to a menu selection input device for efficiently selecting a desired item among a list of a number of items to input or enter the desired item.
A computer system or a system having set-up items performs an initial operation in response to an external operation, i.e., an operation by a user, given from the outside of the system. A series of user""s operations define the execution of a function of the computer system or the initial operation of the system such as the set-up of operating conditions. The computer includes a display screen for displaying one of a plurality of selectable items or a list of a part of or all of a plurality of selectable items, and a menu selection tool (input means) for selecting a desired one of the selectable items as a selected item by the use of the display screen. The selected item which is currently selected by the computer system is displayed on the display screen. The user may change the selected item by the use of the menu selection tool.
As the above-mentioned menu selection tool, use may be made of a switch for carrying out an input operation by switching an on-state and an off-state, as in a push button. Although only the two values, namely, the on-state and the off-state, are given by the switch to the computer, the switch is easy for the user to perform the input operation and low in cost. Therefore, the switch is generally used as a component of a major input device such as a keyboard. An input system having the switch of the type described is widely used for execution of computer software such as a text editor, a spreadsheet program, and a database-client program, setting of a timer in a video tape recorder, or for selection of a called party in a mobile telephone.
In the above-mentioned system, the selected item is displayed on the display screen in the following manner. In one example, the selectable items are located on a two-dimensional coordinate on the display screen and one of the selectable items as the selected item is specified by a position of a cursor. The position of the cursor is changed and moved by cursor keys. In another example, only the selected item is displayed without displaying the remaining or non-selected items so as to specify the selected item. The selected item is displayed on the display screen as a displayed item. The displayed item representative of the selected item can be changed by the use of the switch so that the selected item is set or reset.
The operation of turning on and off the switch is carried out in the following manner. At first, a changing switch for changing the selected item is turned on. By this changing operation, the selected item is changed only once. Then, if the changing switch which has been turned on for changing the selected item as mentioned above is not turned off for a predetermined time period, the selected item is successively changed one after another at a preselected time interval as a changing time interval. The above-mentioned changing state is called a repetitive changing state. The predetermined time period after the changing switch is turned on and before the transition into the repetitive changing state is called a waiting time period. The repetitive changing state comes to an end under various conditions depending on the individual computer systems. In any event, the repetitive changing state comes to an end by turning off the changing switch which has been turned on.
In the computer system such as a video tape recorder, the user can not easily modify or change the set-up for the waiting time period before the transition into the repetitive changing state and the changing time interval at which the selected item is changed in the repetitive changing state. In the personal computer, the waiting time period and the changing time interval must preliminarily be selected as an initial set-up for an input method and, if any modification is desired, the initial set-up must be carried out again.
In most cases, The above-mentioned input system is formed as a separate computer system or as a sub-system for a computer system. The input system or the computer system as described above is available as a computer-readable recording medium.
The waiting time period before the transition into the repetitive changing state is selected to be longer than the changing time interval in the repetitive changing state. This prevents the occurrence of troubles when the selected item is changed during the repetitive changing state. On the contrary, in case where the waiting time period is shorter than the changing time interval, the on/off operation of the switch intended to change the selected item only once will create the repetitive changing state in which the changing operation is repeated a plurality of times. It is thus difficult to select a desired item.
In case where the selection must be made among a list of a large number of items, the operation will not be efficiently performed because, in the existing technique, the user can not temporarily increase the changing speed during the repetitive changing state. In order to increase the changing speed, the user himself should quickly repeat the on/off operation of the changing switch. Even in case where the set-up for the repetitive changing state can be modified, modification requires a long time so that the efficiency can not be improved. If the changing speed of changing the selected item during the repetitive changing state is selected to be sufficiently high in the initial set-up, then it is difficult to stop the repetitive changing state accurately at a right timing, i.e., at a desired item.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a menu selection input device which is capable of efficiently selecting a desired item from a list of a plurality of items.
Menu selection input devices according to the present invention are as follows:
(1) A menu selection input device comprising,
a selecting portion for selecting a desired item as a selected item; and a display portion for displaying the selected item;
the selecting portion comprising at least one changing switch for changing the selected item;
the changing switch having either one of an on state and an off state at a time;
the menu selection input device having a switch transition state in which the changing switch is turned from an initial on state through the off state to a later on state and which corresponds to an item changing state of changing the selected item.
(A user may temporarily modify a set-up for changing the selected item simply by operating the changing switch without modifying an initial set-up. The menu selection input device may comprise a single changing switch or a plurality of changing switches. In case where a plurality of changing switches are provided, the menu selection input device has another switch transition state in which one of the changing switches is turned from the on state into the off state and thereafter another changing switch is turned into the on state. Moreover, two or more changing switches may be in the on state.)
(2) A menu selection input device as described in the paragraph (1), wherein: continuity of the later on state of the changing switch creates a repetitive changing state in which the selected item is successively changed one after another.
(3) A menu selection input device as described in the paragraph (2), wherein:
the switch transition state is a state in which the changing switch is turned from the initial on state into the off state and which the changing switch is thereafter turned from the off state into the later on state within a predetermined time interval;
the item changing state being a state in which the repetitive changing state is started immediately after the changing switch is turned into the later on state.
(Thus, no waiting time period is required before the transition into the repetitive changing state so that the user can quickly select and input the selected item.)
(4) A menu selection input device as described in the paragraph (2), wherein:
the switch transition state is a state in which the changing switch is turned from the initial on state into the off state and which the changing switch is thereafter turned from the off state into the later on state within a predetermined time interval;
the item changing state being a state in which a changing speed during the repetitive changing state is modified to become equal to t times an initial set-up speed initially set into the menu selection input device;
t being a positive real number except 1.
(The user can modify the changing speed during the repetitive changing state so as to quickly or easily select as the selected item a desired item from a list of a large number of items and input the selected item.)
(5) A menu selection input device as described in the paragraph (4), wherein:
t is equal to 2.
(In order for the user to quickly select the desired item from a list of a large number of items, t is preferably equal to 2.)
(6) A menu selection input device as described in the paragraph (2), wherein:
the switch transition state is a state in which a different switch is not turned into an on state while said changing switch is kept in the off state;
the item changing state being a state in which a changing speed during the repetitive changing state is modified to become equal to t times an initial set-up speed initially set into the menu selection input device;
t being a positive real number except 1.
(The user can modify the changing speed during the repetitive changing state so as to quickly or easily select as the selected item a desired item from a list of a large number of items and input the selected item.)
(7) A menu selection input device as described in the paragraph (6), wherein:
t is equal to 2.
(In order for the user to quickly select the desired item from a list of a large number of items, t is preferably equal to 2.)
(8) A menu selection input device as described in the paragraph (2), wherein:
the switch transition state is a state in which a different switch is not turned into an on state while the changing switch is kept in the off state;
the item changing state being a state in which the repetitive changing state is started immediately after the changing switch is turned into the later on state.
(Thus, no waiting time period is required before the transition into the repetitive changing state so that the user can quickly select and input the selected item.)
The switch transition state may be a state in which the changing switch is kept in the off state for a time interval longer than the predetermined time interval. The item changing state corresponding to the above-mentioned switch transition state is an initial set-up state. In case where the changing speed during the repetitive changing state is excessively high, the item changing state of changing the selected item can be turned back into the initial setup state by keeping the changing switch in the off state over the predetermined time interval.
In case where a plurality of changing switches are provided, more complicated switch transition states are present. For example, in one switch transition state, one of the changing switches as a particular changing switch is turned from the on state into the off state and thereafter the particular changing switch is turned into the on state. In another switch transition state, one of the changing switches is turned from the on state into the off state and thereafter another changing switch is turned into the on state. In still another switch transition state, two changing switches simultaneously kept in the on state and thereafter one of these switches is turned into the off state. The item changing states individually corresponding to the above-mentioned three switch transition states may be different from one another. Alternatively, two or all of the above-mentioned three switch transition states may correspond to a single item changing state in common.